Everton’s proposed takeover by 777 Partners was at severe risk of collapse on Wednesday night after owner Farhad Moshiri held crisis talks with the Miami group.
The British-Iranian businessman has held two days of face-to-face meetings but appears yet to be convinced that 777 has funds to complete the deal.
Multiple sources close to talks say Moshiri is now considering his options as lawsuits and claims of unpaid bills piled up against crisis-engulfed 777.
One major complication, however, is that 777 have paid almost £200 million into Everton since September. The group transferred £16 million to the club last week to fulfill operational costs while a takeover remained pending after eight months.
However, amid mounting doubt about the group’s current financial status, reports in Belgium suggest Standard de Liege, one of 777’s existing clubs, have now been told there is no money to pay them until the end of the season.
Moshiri announced an agreement to sell his 94.1 per cent stake to 777 last September but completion had been held up by the firm fulfilling outstanding commitments requested by the Premier League. The company had been paying operational costs since but had yet to clear a £160 million debt to MSP Capital, which was outlined in the top tier’s demands.
Those close to talks told Telegraph Sport that discussions between Moshiri over the last two days surrounded “both short and long-term” issues in their proposed deal.
As recently as last week, Moshiri still appeared committed to the deal but pressure has intensified, with the Everton Fan Advisory Board joining minority shareholders in demanding an end to the saga on Wednesday.
Fans’ group says saga ‘sullying reputation of one of the most storied clubs in English football’
The fan board, which was launched to give greater support say after the 2021 European Super League furore, requested urgent meetings with the club, saying: “This ongoing confusion and lack of transparency cannot continue. Each party must recognize the role it is playing in sullying the reputation of one of the most storied clubs in English football history and appreciate that all the rumor and speculation is causing extremely high levels of anxiety and concern to the club’s greatest assets: their fans. ”
Previous direct correspondence with Moshiri, 777 and other interested parties had failed to answer concerns, the group added. In the fan board’s new demands, Moshiri was told he must “recognise that now is the time for other bidders to be offered the opportunity to acquire Everton Football Club” and 777 should “recognise that your inability to bring the funding necessary to consummate the original deal and the growing reputational damage you are incurring with lawsuit after lawsuit makes you unsuitable owners of EFC.”
The Premier League, meanwhile, should “recognise that it is time for you to live up to your responsibilities (as defined by the owners and directors test in your own rule book) by rejecting 777 Partners in order to allow discussions with more suitable owners of “our great club.”
Everton Shareholders’ Association had added on Tuesday that the “powers-that-be are being disrespectful” and must pull the plug on the proposed deal.
Fewer than five per cent of the club is owned independently of Moshiri’s Blue Heaven Holdings and the estate of the late Bill Kenwright. However, the association, founded in 1938, still carries some club influence as a “watchdog”, with fan supervision of transactions and sales of shares.
“We are the oldest Shareholders’ Association in the world and are dismayed by the lack of respect being shown to our football club by the largest shareholder Farhad Moshiri, and the Premier League during what seems a never-ending change of ownership process,” the group said.
“In the absence of the Premier League making a timely decision we insist that the Everton Board, and Farhad Moshiri in particular, stop this damaging process now and recognize that 777 Partners are not at this time fit-and-proper prospective owners of Everton Football Club.”
Frustration is mounting internally, however, that the situation still remains unresolved after a fraught fortnight of legal complaints faced by 777.
On Monday former owners at Standard de Liège demanded the seizure of millions of pounds of assets in the country.
Two new claims were filed just days after one of the investment firm’s airlines collapsed and another major lawsuit was launched in New York.
